Good Article on the Music Biz

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
From the perspective of David Crosby



Here!



Great quote



They bit the poison pill, and it's killing them. And I think what's killing them really, is that they have a bad business model that doesn't coincide with reality. I think the only way to sell records that I know about now that does look really, really, really promising is iTunes. I think Apple is the smartest company in the country, and they are doing something brilliant.



Much more good stuff. Read it if you're interested. We got a rough road to hoe dealing with the Music Industry.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    gsxrboygsxrboy Posts: 565member
    Nice read thx, sent linky to a few other music lovers..
  • Reply 2 of 6
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    I hate to say it but I disagreed with pretty much everything in that article.



    Yesterday's music is in no way better than today's music. While the economics of the industry has resulted in broken distribution model and an inequitable distribution of profits away from musicians, this doesn't seem to be his point. Instead, he's harping on how music today sucks. Sure, it's possible to buy pop music by corporate bands, but there are still far far more bands who have managed to make their music available to the masses.



    This guy is way out of touch with the vibrant areas in music and instead has chosen to dream of some golden era of his youth.
  • Reply 3 of 6
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dfiler

    Yesterday's music is in no way better than today's music ... he's harping on how music today sucks ... This guy is way out of touch with the vibrant areas in music and instead has chosen to dream of some golden era of his youth.



    That's not what I took away from it at all.



    He's attacking the business and the bands they 'create' not modern musicians in general. When he talks about kids growing out of Britney and Justin, I get the feeling he would have named good modern bands if he knew and liked any, but he's an old guy so he talked about the stuff he knew.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    dfiler I disagree with your assesment.



    Yes crappy bands existed 20-30 years ago but music wasn't this Corporate Machine that it is now. He's %100 correct about not getting MTV rotation or Clear Channel play for some artists. If your must is not pop pablum CC won't play it. If you don't look great or have style MTV won't play you. What is so exciting nowadays about turning on the radio. Pretty much nothing if it's a major station. You'll hear the same boring tracks everyone else is playing. If you doubt this login to iTunes and view the playlists from radio stations from Coast to Coast. Note the striking similarities.



    Music as an expressive art form is dead. The only time the suits call it art is when they're trying to convince someone not to steal it.



    People are fed up with being forcefed garbage. Most of my iTunes purchases have been artists I had no idea existed before iTunes. The revolution is starting...Apple don't fail us..you might be our only hope.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    screedscreed Posts: 1,077member
    Wow dfiler, what a complete misread of what Crosby talked about. If you go back and read it in its entirety, you can see that he has firsthand experience when the "lawyers and accountants" take over the music companies and his central point is that today's mainstream music is crap because the distributors (Radio, CD retailers, MTV/VH1) are only concerned about the top money making artists. "They concentrate on the top 5 percent of stuff that they can predictably do, that will make them money, because that's all they care about. And they couldn't give a rat's bun's less about art."



    Yes, he's using examples from his generation, but his point is that they would be perceived as too radical with their political content.



    Screed
  • Reply 6 of 6
    spindlerspindler Posts: 713member
    The handful of corporations that own music, television and the news may enjoy putting out crap, but very simply the real blame lies with public that buys it. People just don't care about culture.



    If parents had some interest in passing musical taste to their kid they could attempt to turn their kids on to something worth listening to. If rock like Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones was too serious, then they could at least try some catchy pop music like Duran Duran or Michael Jackson. 1950s songs were especially catchy and are perfect for kids 8-10 years old. With a little bit of exposure, kids wouldn't want to listen to today's drivel. The same thing goes for comedy, cartoons, movies and everything else.
Sign In or Register to comment.